During his first semester at Grinnell College, Roger Sayre’s Norris Hall friends dubbed him “a menace to society,” or “Menace” for short. “I hadn’t really taken up running yet, so I had all this excess energy,” Sayre says by way of explanation.

It’s pitch-dark in Columbus, Ohio, when the alarm breaks the wintery stillness at 5 a.m. Instead of hitting “snooze” and burrowing further under the duvet, Sarah Burnell ’14 laces up her running shoes and heads outdoors.

“Academics was first and foremost in my college search,” Nick Curta ’17 says. “I’ve been lucky enough to grow to 6 feet 6 inches and have some ability on the basketball court, but the academic environment of Grinnell really attracted me. Everybody here wants to learn, and everyone wants each other to succeed.”

“Academics was first and foremost in my college search,” Nick Curta ’17 says. “I’ve been lucky enough to grow to 6 feet 6 inches and have some ability on the basketball court, but the academic environment of Grinnell really attracted me. Everybody here wants to learn, and everyone wants each other to succeed.”